1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer rendering using clustered parallel processors.
2. Related Art
The invention generally relates to the use of a plurality of computers connected in a network to participate in the distributed processing of a computationally complex problem. Many problems are so computationally complex that they require hours of computation by even a very large and fast computer or workstation. One example of such a complex problem is the rendering of three-dimensional images, which may require many calculations to determine the lighting and color applied to each pixel in the rendered image. The complexity of the problem multiplies when producing an animation that requires a number of scenes to be rendered. While a single computer may eventually carry out all the calculations required to render a single image or even a plurality of images for an animation, such calculations are usually carried out by a number of processors connected together and managed in clusters. Such connections of parallel running processors are called “rendering farms”.
While large animation companies, such as Pixar, have built their own rendering farms to carry out the calculations needed in their larger animation projects (such as the making of the computer animated movie “Toy Story”), smaller animation groups or students of animation films have limited access to such systems for a number of reasons. Rendering farms have been very expensive to build and generally require a great deal of overhead costs to maintain. Smaller companies and groups have simply been unable to afford the costs of building or maintaining their own. Rendering farms have also been designed to work on a limited number of projects at a time, which makes it very difficult for smaller companies or groups to obtain access on a limited basis.
It would be advantageous to provide a system and method of rendering that is tailored to smaller projects and which could be easily tailored to provide processing power for a number of jobs at one time.